


say to me, c'est la vie

by lotts (LottieAnna)



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Nosy Teammates, Slight pining, mentions of Josh Ho-Sang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-05
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2019-03-24 11:26:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13810215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LottieAnna/pseuds/lotts
Summary: “So you’re into him?” Clutter asks.“Maybe,” Mat says. “Doesn’t matter, just stop me from doing something about it.”“I’ve gotta be honest, kid, you’re not really selling me on this.”





	say to me, c'est la vie

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blueorangecrush](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueorangecrush/gifts).



> IF YOU FOUND THIS THROUGH GOOGLING, KNOW ANYONE MENTIONED IN THIS STORY PERSONALLY, OR ARE MENTIONED YOURSELF: please, please click away. This is a work of fiction and nothing written in this story is true. Any accurate information used in this story is publicly available information about public figures, the rest is made up, 100%.
> 
> Hi blueorangecrush! Someone told me this exchange needed an Isles pinch hitter and I couldn't sign up fast enough. This is set after that 7-2 win against the Rangers in January (when Mat had 2G3A and Tito had 2G1A), and if it were up to me, there would be more Josh Ho-Sang in this, but unfortunately, he's in Bridgeport. Nonetheless, I really hope this makes you smile! 
> 
> Thanks to the village of people who helped this fic get written. Title from "C'est La Vie" by B*witched.

 

Okay. 

So. 

The problem, right now, is that Mat and Tito both played spectacularly, and so now they’re both in really good moods, which means that Tito’s smiling and Mat’s feeling brave. On paper, that shouldn’t be a problem at all, and it wouldn’t be for most people, but the thing is, Mat’s not most people, and when he’s feeling brave like this, it usually means he’s about to do something stupid. 

Mat’s pretty dedicated to the cause of Not Doing Stupid Things, though. He’s proud of the progress he’s made on that front. Like, last year, Mat would’ve already been wasted after a game like today’s, and he’d probably be on Tinder frantically looking for someone to hook up with to get his mind off the whole situation with Tito. This time around, Mat’s halfway through his first beer, already thinking that he’s probably not going to bother with a second one, because he wants to go for a run later, and this year, he’s got systems set up for shit like this. 

Except that system involves Sanger, who’s in Connecticut. 

That’d be fine, because phones exist, but the situation where Josh was a healthy scratch in Bridgeport, Dal Colle is making his NHL debut, and Tito’s making the most of his callup is kind of touchy, right now, and there’s a time and a place to address that, but it’s not in the middle of Mat’s Tito-related bullshit. Sanger had dropped the link to that New York Post article in their group chat with a single sad-face emoji, then not responded to any of their angry-encouraging messages, which is how they all know he’s not feeling great. 

So Mat’s gonna give him the space he needs, but still, having perspective on the situation doesn’t mean Mat’s not gonna do something dumb with Tito. 

“Hey,” Mat says, going up to Clutter, because Clutter’s the best guy to go to when it comes to preventing messy rookie mistakes. “I need you to do me a really dumb favor.” 

“Good,” Clutter says. “I’m great at those.”

“I know,” Mat says, and then he takes a breath. “I need you to tell me that I shouldn’t ask Tito out right now.” 

It’s an admission, technically, because he’s never talked about the Tito thing with Clutter, but at this point, Mat’s pretty sure his feelings for Tito are obvious to anyone who’s not Tito, and the only reason they’re not also obvious to Tito is because Tito pointedly ignores them for the sake of their friendship, probably. 

Clutter furrows his brow. “Why?” 

“Because the only way I can stop myself from making bad choices is to ask someone else to hold me accountable for them,” Mat explains. 

“Alright,” Clutter says, nodding, but he still looks confused. “So what makes Beau a bad choice?” 

“It’s not that he’s a bad choice, it’s that—it’s a whole situation, and I just really need to not make it worse,” Mat says. 

Clutter glances at the bottle in Mat’s hand. “How much have you had to drink?” 

“Just this.”  

“And is this the first time you’ve ever had to stop yourself from trying to get with Beau?” 

Mat turns a little red. “It’s… kind of a thing.” 

“So you’re into him?” Clutter asks. 

“Maybe,” Mat says. “Doesn’t matter, just stop me from doing something about it.” 

“I’ve gotta be honest, kid, you’re not really selling me on this.” 

Mat knows this, understands it, even, but Cal doesn’t know the whole story, and Mat doesn’t want to explain it. 

“Listen, I’m just trying to get over this, okay?” Mat says, and he hopes Cal hears the edge of helplessness in his voice. 

Cal just looks at Mat for a second, stroking his mustache, and then, finally, “Maybe not tonight, you both had a pretty big afternoon.” 

“Thank you,” Mat says, relieved. 

“But I’m not gonna say ‘never’ unless you give me a good reason,” Cal says. “This conversation isn’t over.” 

“Sure,” Mat says, but then Zeeker walks up and slaps Mat on the back, and, after refusing to do a shot for each of his 5 points, Mat slips away and finds Tito again, this time joined by Michael, who’s post-NHL debut drunk. 

“Mat!” Michael says, gleeful. “We were just talking about you.” 

“Yeah?” Mat says, grinning. “All good things, I hope.” 

“I was just telling him that you were way drunker than him after your first game,” Tito says, giving Mat a half-grin. 

Mat’s stomach turns, because a lot happened the night of his NHL debut, including a lot of stuff that Mat doesn’t talk about, but he pushes all that down and rolls his eyes, easy. “Yeah, well, I was drinking to forget that night.” 

“You’ve come so far,” Tito says, tilting his head, and Mat can’t help but wonder if he’s thinking about the same thing Mat is. 

But. It was a big afternoon, and they’ve got a flight tomorrow, and this is not the time to be thinking about Tito like that, so Mat just takes a sip of his beer and changes the subject. 

***

Seids comes down while Mat’s on the treadmill later that night, and Mat yanks out his headphones. 

“Hey, sorry,” Mat says. “I’ll be done in a minute—” 

“No rush,” Seids says, which Mat had expected. As always, he feels bad, because this is Dennis’ house, but Dennis insists that Mat should feel at home here, as long as he’s not being disruptive. 

“Alright,” Mat says, and he expects Seids to leave, but he just stands there, and Mat realizes that he’s here to have a conversation with him the second before he opens his mouth to speak. 

“So I was talking to Cal,” he says. 

“Really,” Mat says, pretending to sound nonchalant. “How’s he doing?” 

“He told me you guys talked earlier,” Seids says. 

“Did he, now,” Mat says. 

“Yeah,” Seids says. “He told me you’re planning on asking someone out?” 

“No, I told him that I wasn’t,” Mat says. 

“But he said you’re into someone, and he’s pretty sure they—” 

“Don’t worry, nothing’s gonna happen,” Mat says, cutting him off. “I’m not gonna be bringing someone around here, or anything, so we don’t have to talk about the rules for that.” 

“That’s not what I was gonna say,” Seids says. “He just thinks you’re writing yourself off a little too early.” 

“He’s an optimist,” Mat says. 

“Or he’s just got a good outsider’s perspective on this,” Seids says. 

“Did he tell you who it was?” Mat asks.

“Well, no,” Seids says. 

“But you know?” 

“I… have my guesses,” Seids says. 

Mat sighs. “Listen, I know he’s around here a bunch, but I swear, nothing’s happened—” 

“I believe you,” Seids says. “I didn’t think that in the first place. You’re a good kid, Barz.” 

“Thanks,” Mat says, and he feels weird accepting the compliment, even though he knows he’s earned it. He tries to be a good kid, a polite houseguest, the kind of responsible young man who makes smart choices. He’s been successful, but part of that success comes from acknowledging that maybe he needs to ask other people to help him not be reckless. That’s probably the biggest thing Mat’s learned this year: he’s not quite ready to avoid being a disaster altogether, and no one expects him to, but he can prepare for it in advance, and plenty of people are more than willing to help.

“If you do start seeing someone, we can talk about house rules then,” Seids says. “Do you need a water bottle?” 

“There’s a little bit left in that one,” Mat says, pointing to the cupholder on the machine. 

Seids picks it up. “I’ll go put some more in it.”

“You don’t have to,” Mat says. 

“It’s no trouble,” Seids says. “I’ll be back in a second.” 

“Alright,” Mat says. “Thank you.” 

“No problem,” Seids says, and then he’s gone. 

***

The thing is, Mat’s not dumb. He knows that his current method of dealing with the Tito thing isn’t sustainable, and that’s probably why Cal is concerned in the first place. Like, he’s aware that he’s lying to himself when he keeps finding new, fleeting reasons for not doing anything about Tito, because the thing is, he knows, deep down, that it’s just never gonna happen, but he doesn’t want to confront that, so even if the situation isn’t a big deal, it’s still something, because Mat’s too chicken to actually let Tito properly break his heart so he can move the fuck on. 

So, like, yeah, maybe it’s more of a thing than Mat acts like, and maybe everyone can see through that, but Mat’s not really ready to deal with it, so he just. 

Doesn’t.

***

At morning skate the next day, it occurs to Mat that maybe this isn’t just about him. 

The Islanders are a pretty unassuming team, and there’s not much drama among the guys, which Mat likes a lot, but he figures some of the older guys want something interesting to happen, so they’re turning the whole Mat-and-Tito thing into some sort of rookie romance. 

That’s the only reasonable explanation for Anders, Johnny, Ledds, and Bailey all trying to talk to him about it individually before he even hits the ice. 

“You’re literally the fifth person to try and have this conversation with me today,” Mat says when JT brings it up. “It’s fine, it hasn’t been messing with the team, and I won’t let it.”

“It’s not just about the team, you know,” John says. 

“I’m playing fine,” Mat says. “And I’m happy, and it’s—whatever. How do you guys even know about this? Is there, like, a secret group chat?”

“Well, yeah, a group of us had a chat this morning,” John says. 

Mat genuinely can’t tell if he’s being serious or not, but honestly, he’s not gonna waste time figuring it out. “Why?” 

“Seids thought you could use some encouragement,” he says. 

“Well, I appreciate it, but—just, like, don’t worry about it,” Mat says. He knows they’re not trying to gossip, and that they just want to help out a rookie who’s made it clear that he’s fine accepting their help, but the fact is, the end result is really just gossip. 

“I—” John starts, but then Tito walks into the locker room, and Mat makes a beeline for him. 

“Please pretend we’re having an in-depth conversation about our line,” Mat says in French. 

“Why?” Tito asks.

“Because everyone but you has decided to be nosy today,” Mat says. 

“Ah, you finally picked up on that,” Tito says. “Yeah, they do that, sometimes.” 

“Save me,” Mat says, and Tito laughs, which is a little bit like torture, but still preferable to the parade of helpful teammates.

***

Mat sticks to Tito like glue for the rest of morning skate, which effectively wards off several more would-be conversations, and Mat’s not even annoyed about it, because whenever one of the guys awkwardly tries to approach Mat, Tito appears at his side, and afterwards, they share a knowing look, like they’re judging their ridiculous teammate together, even though Tito clearly doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. It’s kind of like hiding in plain sight, using Tito as a conversational barrier like this, but he doesn’t seem to mind being in the dark. Mat wonders if this is some weird rite of passage, suddenly acquiring an entire roster of overly invested parents; he sends a message to the rookie group chat about it after morning skate, and Sanger replies with a series of cry-laughing emojis, which Mat takes to mean he’s feeling better. 

“At this point, they all probably just want to apologize,” Tito says as they’re walking to their cars.

“I don’t want them to apologize,” Mat says. “I’m not mad, I just want them to let it go, y’know?” 

“Yeah, they’re not good at that,” Tito says. “Once they latch onto something, they tend to stick with it.” 

“Can they not?” Mat groans, and Tito just laughs.

“Just weather the storm, they’ll forget about it in a few days,” Tito says. “Who’d it start with for you? With me, it was Ledds.” 

“Clutter,” Mat says. 

“Ah, yes,” Tito says. “Never trust a man with a mustache.” 

“I should’ve known he’d get too invested,” Mat says. 

“Did you ask him for help?” Tito asks. 

Mat nods. “Yeah, it was a small thing, but it kind of snowballed.” 

Tito hesitates for a second. “I mean, what kind of thing was it?” 

“Just—needed to stop myself from doing something stupid,” Mat says, which is true. 

“Ah,” Tito says, nodding, and thankfully, he doesn’t press Mat for details. “So they think you’re still gonna do it if they don’t keep checking in with you?”

“Actually, uh, no,” Mat says. “It’s more the opposite.” 

“What do you mean?” Tito asks. 

“Like, they don’t think it’s a stupid choice,” Mat says. 

“Really,” Tito says, furrowing his brow. 

Mat feels his face go red, and quickly looks away. “I mean, it doesn’t matter. I know it is, so.” 

“Are you sure?” Tito says. 

“Yes,” Mat says, automatic, because he knows it is, and if Tito knew what he was talking about, he’d agree. Even if Mat confronted his feelings in the smartest, most rational, most mature way possible, it wouldn’t end well for them. 

It’s hard for Mat’s brain to fully accept that, is all.

“Alright,” Tito says, once he’s at his car. “Well, hopefully they let up soon.”

“Pray for me,” Mat says. 

“It’ll be fine,” Tito says, and then he smiles, this soft thing that Mat likes so much it almost hurts. “I’ll see you at the airport, yeah?” 

“For sure,” Mat says. “See you.” 

Tito gets into his car and drives off, and once he’s gone, Mat starts to make his way towards his car, which is parked on the other side of the lot, and thankfully, he doesn’t run into any of his teammates on the way there.

***

Mat really thinks he’s safe when he’s sitting in his usual spot on the plane next to Ebs, because Ebs hadn’t shown any indication of being too invested in Mat’s love life during morning skate, but of course he brings it up during takeoff, because apparently Mat will never know peace.

“So I hear you’re being dumb about feelings,” he says, not even bothering with any pleasantries.

“Jesus,” Mat says. “Are you in on this too?” 

“I’m not in on anything, the captain wanted me to talk to you, so we’re talking,” Ebs said. 

“Can’t you just say we talked?” Mat asks. 

“Nope,” Ebs says. “I’m invested in your happiness, kiddo.”

“Not talking about this would make me happy,” Mat says. 

“I meant in the long term,” Ebs says. “So is this about Beau, or what?” 

Mat knows he’s kind of obvious, but it’s still a pretty direct callout. “Well, yeah,” he says. 

Ebs smirks. “Not even gonna try to deny it?” 

“I never denied anything,” Mat says. “It’s been a thing, it’s not gonna happen.”

“Why not?” Ebs asks.

“Because it’s not,” Mat says. 

“Yeah, that’s bullshit,” Ebs says. “You guys are friends, and he smiles literally every time you’re in the same room.” 

“That’s not true,” Mat says. 

“It is,” Ebs says simply. “I’m not saying he’s, like, definitely into you, but if you’re ruling him out, there’s gotta be more to the story.” 

Mat bites his lip. “Okay, fair enough.” 

“So are you gonna tell me what it is?” Ebs asks. 

Mat looks at him for a second; Ebs isn’t necessarily the guy Mat goes to for life advice first, but he’s one of his closest friends on the team, and Mat trusts him, more than anyone else, to keep a secret when he needs to. 

“Promise not to tell?” 

“Duh.”

“Alright,” Mat says, and then he takes a deep breath. “So I, uh—I mean, I tried to kiss him once.” 

Mat’s expecting some kind of reaction, but Ebs just nods. “Okay.” 

Mat waits for a second to see if he’s gonna say anything more, but he doesn’t, so Mat continues. “And—like, he backed away, so, he’s not into it.” 

“When was this?” Ebs asks. 

“Last year,” Mat says. “I was super drunk, and I just—I knew I fucked up, and the next day we had a talk about how he wasn’t into me like that, and we were cool.” 

“Wait, so, like, at the beginning of last season?” Ebs says. 

Mat nods. “I mean, not that long ago.” 

“I guess, but—like, that’s long enough.” 

“What?” Mat asks. 

“Like, that’s an entirely different situation,” Ebs says. 

“Okay, but if I say something to him now, that’s like, admitting I’ve been into him forever, and there’s only so many times he can let me down easy,” Mat says. 

“Handling your friend getting wasted and trying to kiss you is super fucking different from, like, having a conversation about feelings,” Ebs says. “I mean, did you even like him back then?”

“I tried to kiss him,” Mat says. 

“Sure, but that’s not what I asked,” Ebs says. “What were you hoping would happen?” 

Mat thinks back to that night; he’d been sad, and embarrassed, and wanted some comfort, and he knew he thought Tito was cute, but that was pretty much it. 

“I don’t know,” he admits, after a second.

“But you know now, right?” Ebs says. “Like, you want to date him.” 

“Yeah,” Mat says. 

“So, it’s different,” Ebs says. “You guys have something to talk about.” 

“But—” Mat starts to protest, but he’s not really sure where he’s going with that, so he just closes his mouth. “Alright, I’ll think about it.” 

“You will,” Ebs repeats, skeptical. 

“Sure,” Mat says, and he’s not actually planning on it, but he needs this conversation to be over, and Ebs must sense that he’s not gonna get much more out of Mat than that, so he nods and puts his headphones in. 

***

Mat does end up thinking about it. A lot. He blames it on Spotify; some update had gotten rid of most of the songs he had downloaded, so he doesn’t have anything to listen to, which means he’s left alone with Candy Crush and a shitton of thoughts he can’t drown out. 

The thing is, Mat’s pretty sure he hasn’t been lying to himself. There have always been perfectly good reasons for not just telling Tito how he feels, and most of them boil down to one thing: Tito’s important to him, and Mat had almost fucked it up because he was too impulsive, so when he deals with this once and for all, it’s not gonna be on a whim. Mat’s current methods for resisting whims have been avoiding them when possible, and finding someone else to tell him to ignore the voice in his head that’s screaming at him to kiss Tito whenever he does something cute. Mat’s been really good at ignoring that voice when he’s drunk, but it’s gotten harder and harder to do that when he’s sober and convinced he’s thinking clearly. 

There’s a reason for that, and it has a lot to do with the way Tito started looking at him during camp this summer. 

It’s not really anything, just a few looks, but still. Lately, Tito’s been making it difficult for Mat to talk himself out of thinking there’s a chance Tito likes him back. 

Josh knows about the whole Tito thing because of last year, because Mat had dramatically exited the group chat immediately after it happened, and didn’t want to ask Tito to re-add him, but that was mostly an excuse, because Mat just kind of wanted a reason to confide in someone, and Josh had picked up on that quickly. When he’s there, Mat knows there’s someone who at least knows what could potentially happen, but Josh is in Bridgeport. There are a million reasons Mat wishes Sanger was up, and a few of them are kind of selfish, which is kinda shitty of him, probably, but also reasonable. Mat wants to talk to someone who remembers what he was like before this season, who can say, ‘yeah, you’ve grown up enough and moved past this,’ and who Mat will believe, and that’s not something that’s gonna come from one of the older guys. That’s the downside of getting a fresh start: people can only see how well you’re doing, but sometimes you need them to see how far you’ve come. 

But for the time being, Mat’s at least a little bit on his own.

***

Rooming with Tito is usually fine, and that’s saying something about Mat’s ability to ignore his feelings, because Tito wearing cozy sweatpants and glasses is a lot for Mat to handle. 

Unfortunately, Mat’s ability to ignore his feelings has been severely compromised. 

Tito’s even wearing a fucking cardigan right now, like he’s the star of some absurdly gentle fantasy Mat didn’t even know he had, and just—Mat honestly would prefer him to be naked, he thinks, except then he pictures Tito naked, which is not a good route to go down. But the Tito in front of him is also a lot to deal with, which means Mat doesn’t even know what he should be thinking about, except for maybe, like, not Tito, but that’s not really a possibility.

Mat knows he has to do something about this. Like, this is a normal moment, Mat coming out of the shower to find Tito wearing comfortable clothes and browsing his phone, and it’s way more than Mat can handle, and he kind of wishes he could blame it on the guys for getting him thinking about all this feelings shit in the first place, but it’s really all his fault, because he shouldn’t have let it get this bad without doing something.

“Barz?” Tito asks, glancing over at where Mat’s frozen in place. “Are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Mat says, shaking his head a bit. “Sorry.” 

“You’re good,” Tito says, but he doesn’t take his eyes off of Mat. 

“Are you okay, man?” Mat asks. 

“Uh,” Tito says, and he’s staring at Mat’s stomach, now, but before Mat can process that Tito’s almost definitely checking him out, Tito says, “Do you wanna, like, get dinner with me tonight?” 

Mat tells himself that it doesn’t mean anything, because it’s just dinner and not, like,  _ dinner,  _ but then Tito turns bright red, rolls onto his back and throws an arm over his face, which catches Mat kind of off-guard. 

“Oh my god, pretend I never said that,” he says. 

“Um,” Mat says, and starts to dry off while Tito’s eyes are closed. “Sure, yeah, we can get dinner.” 

“No, I mean, I was trying to ask you out,” Tito says, which immediately makes all the parts of Mat’s brain that are trying to convince him that this isn’t a date shut down. 

There’s a second where Mat tries to get that train of thought rolling again, because he can’t let himself believe that Tito’s asking him on a date, except then the words hit him, and that’s when all the other parts of Mat’s brain stop working, because Tito  _ is _ asking him on a date.

That’s, like, a thing, and it’s really, actually happening.

“Oh,” Mat says, pulling on a pair of boxers. 

“Yeah,” Tito says. “Sorry.” 

“You’re good,” Mat says. He wonders if his voice actually sounds weird, or if it’s just him.

Tito uncovers his face, his eyes still squeezed shut, and he sighs. “Okay, well, are you dressed?” 

“Uh, partially?” Mat says. 

Tito glances at him before closing his eyes again and shaking his head. “Nope, this conversation isn’t happening until you’re wearing a shirt, and, like, pants.” 

Mat puts on a pair of sweatpants and an old Thunderbirds shirt quickly, still not convinced that anything that’s happening is real. “Is this good?” 

Tito opens his eyes, looks at him, and sighs. “Okay, I guess this just won’t be easy.” 

“Sorry?” Mat says. 

Tito sits up. “No, it’s fine, you’re just really—y’know.” 

“Oh,” Mat says. He’s pretty sure that one of these days, he’s gonna remember how to form a complete sentence, but right now, it’s not happening. 

“Like, you’re really hot,” Tito clarifies, and then he puts his face in his hands. “Oh my god, okay, I don’t know why I’m such a mess right now.” 

“It’s okay,” Mat says.

“I practiced this,” Tito says. “I had a whole plan, I swear—I mean, not, like, a  _ whole  _ plan, but I was gonna wait until after the game tomorrow.” 

“You were—what?” Mat says. 

“To ask you out,” Tito says. “Like, I was gonna do it before, but then I got sent down, and then I got called up again, but then we were gonna be linemates, and I didn’t wanna make that weird, and then you were on bye week, but—” 

“How long have you—”  _ wanted this,  _ Mat’s brain fills in, but right now, logistics are all he can handle, “—been planning this?” 

“Like, a few… weeks,” Tito says. 

“A few weeks,” Mat echoes. 

“Maybe months,” Tito says. “I don’t know, it’s—a while, but things kept popping up.”

Mat sits down on the bed next to Tito, very aware of the space between them. It’s close enough that Mat could reach out and touch him if he wanted to, and that’s always been dangerous, but right now, it feels like the exciting kind of dangerous. 

“So you want to go to dinner,” Mat says. 

“Yeah,” Tito says. “And also kiss you, and—like, lots of things. I don’t know. Date you. But, uh, dinner, yeah.” 

“Tonight?” Mat asks. 

“If you don’t already have plans,” Tito says. “And if you want to, obviously. Like, it’s fine if you say no—” 

“No,” Mat says quickly, except that’s misleading, so he hastily adds, “I mean, sorry, yeah. Yes.” 

“What?” Tito says. 

“Dinner. Yes,” Mat says, and he visibly winces. 

Then, Tito’s smiling, and suddenly, Mat’s much less embarrassed than he probably should be.

“Dinner. Yes,” Tito repeats, in a low grunt.  

“Shut up,” Mat says, grinning. 

“What will I tell our grandkids?” Tito says. “I asked you to dinner, and you suddenly turned into a caveman?” 

“I agreed to one date, like, twenty seconds ago, and we already have grandkids?” Mat says. 

“Just in case,” Tito says. “One of us should keep track of the details.” 

“Alright, well, good luck telling any hypothetical grandchildren that I was literally naked when you first asked me out,” Mat says. 

“I’ll edit that part out,” Tito says. “But—yes? You’ll go out with me?”

“Yeah,” Mat says. “I—like, duh, of course, yeah.” 

“Duh?” Tito asks. 

Mat shrugs, blushing. “I mean, it’s like—I’m into you? You know that, right?” 

“No, I didn’t know that,” Tito says. 

“Oh,” Mat says. “Well, I am.” 

“So am I.”

“I figured as much.”

“Right,” Tito says. “Because I asked you out.” 

“Kind of a giveaway,” Mat says. 

“Makes sense,” Tito says. “So does this mean I don’t have to wait until after dinner to kiss you?” 

Mat could probably answer that with words, and his brain is working enough that he could probably think of something witty to say, too, except he’s spent a long time wanting this, so he just shakes his head and leans in. 

There’s a moment where it’s unfamiliar and weird, because he’s known Tito for a while and spent a long time not kissing him, but once that passes, it hits him that he’s finally kissing Tito, and it may not have been the best idea to do this right now, but that’s only because he doesn’t know how he’s ever gonna stop. 

***

Mat’s never been able to really rule Tito out as a possibility—for good reason, apparently—so he’s spent a fair amount of time imagining what their first date would be like, and while naked room service in a Montreal hotel room has never been a specific fantasy of his, he can’t imagine anything better.

“I’m pretty sure we were supposed to, like, go out,” Tito says. 

“Eh,” Mat says, and lets Tito feed him a bite of steak. “Can’t say I regret it.” 

“I think some of the guys had money on this,” Tito says. 

“On what, whether or not we’d get together?” Mat asks. 

“No, on when I’d finally ask you out,” Tito says. “Or, maybe it was on when we’d go on a date. I’m not sure, no one will tell me.” 

“Wait,” Mat says. “They knew?” 

“Maybe,” Tito says, grinning, a little embarrassed. 

“Oh my god, so many things make sense now,” Mat says. 

“Like what?” 

“Like today, when everyone was trying to tell me that I should, like, go for it,” Mat says. 

“Wait,” Tito says, sitting up. “Was I the stupid thing you weren’t supposed to do?” 

Mat nods. “I kind of almost asked you out yesterday,” he admits. 

“Wait, so did I,” Tito says. “Can you imagine if we’d said it at the same time? Like, in unison?” 

“I don’t think that’s how it would’ve worked,” Mat says. 

“Whatever,” Tito says. “You know it wouldn’t have been stupid, right?” 

“Hindsight’s 20/20,” Mat says.

“True,” Tito says. “I’m just glad we got here eventually.” 

“So am I,” Mat says, probably too fond, but he doesn’t think anyone could blame him for being kind of cheesy right now, because this is a long time coming. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic] Say to me, c'est la vie](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17717852) by [Annapods](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annapods/pseuds/Annapods)




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